How to Sterilize Things

Sterilization means eliminating fungi, bacteria, viruses, and spore forms from an object or medium. This article tells you how to sterilize almost anything.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 
    
   Cholera bacteria

   Are you worried about bacteria? fungi? viruses? spores? do you just want an sterile environment or object? Here are some things you can to sterilize objects or places: Using heat, chemicals, irradiation, high pressure or filtration. Sterilizing something is harder than most people realize.

2. 
    
   Be careful not to burn your hand!

   HEAT
   
   Heat is one of the most commonly methods of sterilization. Normal cooking methods for food do not sterilize it. They simply reduce the amount of bacteria on them. Boiling helps reduce fungi and bacteria too, but does not sterilize.
   
   Pressure cooking CAN sterilize things. Another, more scientific name for this is "autoclaving". This method of steam sterilization requires at least 15 minutes at about 125 C or 3 minutes at about 135 C (about 275 farenheit). If you are trying to sterilize a bottle, remember to open the lid!
   
   Another effective method of sterilization is called "flaming". As the name may suggest, this is simply putting something over a flame. This is mostly done on small metal objects (unless you are fire-proof and can find a huge flame), perhaps glass objects too depending on the particular glass. For metal objects you have to wait until the metal glows in a red color. For big things you would need to incinerate (In an incinerator).
   
   DRY HEAT
   You can sterilize with dry heat, but it takes longer than using steam.
   To do so you must heat air (like the air in your oven), up to 190 Celsius (374 farenheit) for about 6 and a half minutes. If you wrapped the object with something then it will take much longer (about twice as long).
   
   Hot tap water definitively does not sterilize.
   
   If a temperature is 130 farenheit or less, bacteria will simply grow faster!
   
   Dishwashers do not sterilize and they can often promote bacterial growth!

3. 
    
   Hydrogen peroxide is a very useful and versatile substance

   CHEMICALS
   
   This is the method to use if something does not resist heat that well (example: most plastics).
   
   There are thousands of toxic substances you can use for this. The most popular are:
   
   
   Alcohol: It kills only about 70% of bacteria (so it does not really sterilize), but at least is a pretty common substance that you probably have somewhere around the house. Alcohol is poisonous to all humans and most bacteria.
   
   Hydrogen peroxide: This substance works its magic even at very low concentrations (about 3%). To sterilize more completely you need concentrations of about 30-70%. I suggest you DON'T use these higher concentrations as they are pretty dangerous. 3% is fine for most practical purposes. It works by oxidation. If you bleach your hair, then you probably have some around the house!
   
   Chorine bleach: With enough concentration and time (about 20 minutes) bleach will kill almost anything (even you). Be careful because at various concentrations it can even eat trough steel!
   
   All three of these substances are poisonous (except maybe hydrogen peroxide at very low concentrations) and chorine is highly corrosive. Handle these with care. Alcohol and Hydrogen peroxide are probably your safest bets.

4. 
    
   With enough potency, microwaves can kill bacteria, fungi and viruses, effectively sterilizing the object

   IRRADIATION
   
   While many types of radiation can do the job, the only type available to the average person in order to have enough potency comes in the form of microwaves (Yes, just like your microwave oven). Radiation can sterilize.

5. 
    
   High pressures can sterilize

   HIGH PRESSURE
   
   High pressures crush living things, but I don't know of any way the average person can take advantage of this. You need about 70,500 pounds per square inch or more in order to sterilize.

6. 
    
   A good filter can sterilize

   FILTRATION
   
   A good enough filter can keep bacteria, viruses, fungi and many harmful substances away. In order to filter out viruses and bacteria you need 20 nm(nanometer) pores on the filter. This is, for all practical purposes, only applicable to liquids.

7. 
    
   If you are planning on taking or are currently taking silver supplements be careful not to take too much over long periods of time or your skin will permanently turn greyish/blue.

   SILVER
   
   Ionic silver can kill a broad range of viruses and bacteria, and unlike other heavy metals such as mercury and lead, it is not toxic on small quantities. Silver does not completely sterilize.

8. That's it! Good luck sterilizing things!

Tips & Warnings

• Remember not to put metals on the microwave oven.
• Be careful when handling chemicals.
• For any sterilization method, remember cleaning the object with room-temperature water before sterilization. If something is covering the bacteria or virus it is effectively protecting it from danger!
• Other credits for images used:
• http://images.google.com/imgresimgurl=http://www.towntopics.com/jul1305/cinema
• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://firstaidmonster.com/images/products/FAM_HYDROGEN_PEROXIDE_PINT-4080.jpg
• www.hylands.tv
• homebrewheaven.com
• nanotechnologytoday.blogspot.com
• art4linux.org

[Mitestarossa]

on 3/2/2009 Interesting ideas!